The Wife He Left Behind novel · Chapter 9 of 24

Chapter 9: Cake for the Team

On Friday afternoon I walked into Pacific Crest Freight carrying a bakery box.

It was the sheet cake I'd ordered on Wednesday, white frosting with blue piping.

The writing on it said THANK YOU TEAM.

I had paid extra for the lettering.

The Seattle office was on the fourth floor of a glass building by the water.

The elevator opened onto a lobby with a long table and a banner that said FALL APPRECIATION MIXER.

About forty people stood around it with paper cups.

Stellan had offered to come with me.

I had told him no.

I wanted to do this part on my own, as myself.

"Can I help you?" said the woman at the desk.

She was young and cheerful, with a lanyard that said she handled front office.

"I'm Cassia Reiner," I said. "Tobias's wife. I brought cake."

Her smile held for a moment.

Then it stuttered.

"Tobias's wife?"

"Yes."

"Oh. Oh, wow. I'm so sorry, I thought you were in..." She stopped. "I mean, he said you'd gone to your mother's."

I kept my voice pleasant.

"Did he?"

"For a while. Since the spring."

"Since March," said a man behind her, and I turned.

He was in a quarter-zip, holding a paper cup, and I knew his face before I saw his name tag.

I had seen it as a small round photo under the company's post, above a comment.

Tobias and Camille always look so sharp together.

"He said you needed some time," the man said. "He was really torn up about it."

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